I love the feeling I get when I find a product I didn’t know I needed comes into my life. The Maxmini GunGlaive conversion pack is just such an item. A GunGlaive is a poleaxe with an integrated firearm. At first glance, this doesn’t seem like the most useful or flexible conversion bit, but I came up with a pretty long list of cool and interesting uses for the GunGlaives with Warhammer 40k miniatures.

The build quality of the GunGlaives could not be better. There are 6 in each pack, in my case 2 of each sculpt. Each GunGlaive is a one piece affair, with deep, clean detail. The diamond grip on one sculpt, for example, is beautiful and crisp. While all three head styles have different heads, hafts, and muzzles, there is a stylistic cohesion that makes them work. The hafts are perfectly straight, something I could never have managed cobbling bits together myself, not even taking the superior sculpt. They mesh quite well with the Warhammer 40k miniatures they are intended for, with the thick, Gothic aesthetic intact.

I have always preferred painting axes to swords. Maybe it is because I have painted both a dwarf army and a Space Wolves force. The big, flat surfaces are perfect for painting anything from clean metallic to non-metal metallic to cracking energy weapons. The haft detail is impressive enough that a little effort has a big result. The level of detail is a nice medium between a high interest level and a lack of excesses. A conservative scheme will look good, but the GunGlaives can be real show stoppers.

The gaming applications of the GunGlaives seem fairly narrow, at first look. For converting up Adeptus Custodes models, there is no better bit. The Custodes wield GunGlaives, in 40k canon, so they are a natural use. My first instinct was to use the GunGlaves for pre-Heresy Assault Squads, taking the place of pistols and hand weapons. Extrapolating from there, they make a natural weapon replacement for Vanguard Veterans. Tactical Squad Sergeants and officers tend to wield hand weapons and pistols, too, so the GunGlaive is a pretty simple swap. From there, the sky is the limit. Wolf Guard Veterans were one of my favorite Space Wolf units and I loved thinking of unique conversions for them. Putting GunGlaives in their hands makes for a fearsome visage. For more enterprising converters, putting one of these bad boys in the hands of an Imperial Guard Commissar or an Ork Nob would make for a more interesting miniature, for sure. That isn’t even taking into account more complicated conversions, like giving a GunGlaive to a Sisters of Battle Canoness. Hell, I just realized the GunGlaives would be perfect for a Chaos Space Marine army…

Maxmini has the Gunglaives in a package of 6 for $9.23. That average out to a little over $1.50 per dude. For an Adeptus Custodes players, several dozen of these are a must buy. Grey Knight and Space Marine players can most definitely make use of the GunGlaives, for sure. Slipping a few into any Imperial army adds a bit of class and distinction for a pretty low price. I consider the GunGlaives a pretty solid buy for the enterprising converter.